[Stephen Benskin]

Going back to the earlier reference to "minimum exposure to maximum black", not that I ever used this method anyway, I found Richard Henry's experiments regarding that methodology quite interesting. It may or may not work better with current VC papers in comparison to the graded papers Henry used for the tests, but there are still variables to be considered, and they are pretty much never discussed.

Michael, thanks for jumping back in and for the Henry reference. Since Henry was evaluating the method as a way to determine a standard printing time and not as a way to confirm / determine film speed, he obviously didn't test the effectiveness for that purpose. He does have some interesting data on the the consistency of maximum black between paper grades. Notice how he mentions the effects of color temperature with both the response of the film and meter when describing the film testing part of the standard printing time test? He also graphs the effectiveness of the standard printing time method showing whether the the method is able to achieve its intended results. His scientific background is definitely apparent.

As you wrote earlier, Henry wrote this book as a reaction to the misinformation he saw in popular photographic literature. Similarly, Mike Johnston once told me that Phil Davis never read any of the articles written by other authors in PHOTO Techniques because he couldn't stand all the bad information.